Luton’s 2-1 win over Stevenage this weekend was overshadowed by a number of refereeing mistakes throughout the game, which Luton Town boss Jack Wilshere spoke out about after the game.
In the first half, Luton felt that they should’ve been awarded a penalty following Lamine Fanne’s effort, which struck the arm of a Stevenage player, however the penalty wasn’t given.
The referee proceeded to not send off Nigel Lonwijk after a strong challenge on a Stevenage player in the 22nd minute, which ended up being a correct decision.
The first real moment of controversy came after Luton Town were awarded a penalty for a foul by Dan Phillips on Jordan Clark, a decision which Stevenage fans thought was incorrect.
This penalty was then saved by Filip Marschall for Stevenage, however he was clearly off his line when the penalty was taken, meaning Luton should’ve had the opportunity to retake the spot kick.
Following half time, the referee made another series of errors, leading to Wilshere speaking out about the handball rule after the game.
During the lead up to Stevenage’s goal, the ball seemed to hit the arm of Jordan Roberts, however it did hit another body part before his arm.
The referee then made another controversial call later in the game, not showing Roberts a second yellow card after throwing Joe Johnson to the floor in front of the dugout, after the winger had already trodden on Johnson in an earlier incident.
This led to Wilshere being mystified after the game, saying “Apparently if it hits another body part and then your hand it’s not handball, which I didn’t know and sometimes I’m not sure that anyone quite knows the rule around that.”
The referee’s poor performance helped bring the Hatters crowd to life, and Wilshere felt that this helped the team in the second half, claiming “We were landing on it, keep attacking, keeping them under pressure and I think we’re at our best when we do that.
“You can see fans get a little bit of energy when we do that, that’s the type of game they want and they helped us definitely.”
This helped the team to end up winning the game 2-1, a much needed response following a poor performance at Exeter on New Year’s Day, meaning the Hatters unbeaten run at home in all competitions stretches to 10 games.
